


Safe and Sound

by apocrypha73



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Mention of Torture/Violence, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 11:05:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16303985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocrypha73/pseuds/apocrypha73
Summary: The Emperor is dead, democracy has been oficially reinstated in the galaxy, and the remaining members of the Ghost family live in relative peace on Lothal. However, that doesn't mean the Empire has been defeated for good. When Chancellor Mothma requests the crew's assistance in chasing a fugitive Imperial officer, what appears to be a pretty simple mission ends up proving more dangerous than anyone had anticipated, and Kallus finds out he doesn't take the threats to Zeb's life very well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to treat yourself to something really special, check out the podfic for this story by the amazing  
> [Anath_Tsurugi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anath_Tsurugi/)  
> Here's the direct link to the podfic: <https://archiveofourown.org/works/16374629>  
> A million thanks to my wonderful beta, Alexa, for helping make this fic presentable.

 

 

It was amazing what freedom could do for a planet.

Kallus was pretty sure he’d never seen a blue sky over Lothal before they kicked the Empire out. Or at least not  _ this  _ blue, anyway. Even when he came to this place for the first time, back before the air pollution got really bad, the atmosphere had already been a little grey and dirty. He never gave it a second thought, assuming Lothal was naturally like that. But boy, had he been wrong.

In his defense, he was a proper born and raised Coruscanti. He barely knew what clean air even looked like.

He angled his speeder bike as the highway took a tight curve. Ahead of him, Capital City rose in stark contrast against the blue, with the tall spike at its center standing proud, shining under the sunlight. Zeb always said it looked like a middle finger raised to the Empire, and Kallus honestly loved that idea. There was indeed a certain defiance to it, a challenge even. Like it had been built to tell the Empire  _ Look, we’re here. We’re not afraid of you. Come get us if you dare, we’ll just kick your butt again. _

He slowed down as he entered the city. The familiar streets welcomed him as he drove through his usual route home, a path he’d repeated so many times he could have done it blindfolded. A touch to the brakes here, a slight lean to the right there, now a change of lane. The moves were ingrained in his muscle memory, as natural as breathing.

‘Home’ was a two-bedroom apartment in the middle of the market district of Capital City, not too far away from where Hera and Jacen lived. It was a cozy little place, almost spartan in its simplicity. But the rent was affordable, and it had more than enough room for two people. Especially for two people who had spent most of their adult lives in the confining quarters of one spaceship or another.

“Hello?” he called as he opened the door. There was no answer, so he assumed Zeb was running some errand and would be back well before they were due to report to the command center for their shift. In the meantime, he started putting away the groceries he’d bought.

Kallus’s trip to Bridgertown —formerly known as Tarkintown— had been most productive, allowing him to bring home enough fresh vegetables and fruit to last them the whole week. He’d even bought a piece of that cheese Zeb liked so much. He smiled to himself in anticipation, knowing Zeb would tease him about it later.

_ You know we live literally right next to the market, don’t you? _ he would say.  _ You don’t have to go that far to get some damn jogan fruit. _

_ But these are better _ , Kallus would reply, and Zeb would chuckle with an air of resignation, lovingly mumbling “organic food freak” under his breath as he shook his head.

In truth, however, they both knew the real reason why Alex would travel all the way there to buy food. It was simple: he’d burned their farms and their houses once, on the Empire’s bidding. It was only fair he’d do whatever he could to boost their prosperity.

Also, their produce was indeed much better.

He heard the door shortly after, and Zeb’s voice greeting him from the entrance. “Alex? You home?”

“In here,” he answered.

Zeb’s massive form made his way through the kitchen’s door a few seconds later. “Hi, babe,” he said, coming closer.

“Hello, gorgeous,” Alex replied, angling for a kiss even as he washed his hands under the tap.

“You went shopping?”

“Well, we had run out of several things, so…”

“So you decided we needed enough food for twenty?” Zeb teased, eyeing the colorful display of fruits and vegetables currently covering their kitchen counter. “Is there a storm coming or something, are we gonna get snowed in? No, wait, I know: you’re planning to invite the whole family to dinner. Twice.”

Kallus laughed softly. “It’s not  _ that  _ much, you goof.”

“Not for an Imperial garrison, maybe.”

The man shook his head in fond exasperation. “Let’s see if you’re still complaining when you try what I’m going to cook with all this.”

“You got me there,” Zeb replied. “But that’s gonna have to wait. Hera called a meeting, she needs us in the Command Center as soon as possible. Something about an incoming message.”

Kallus turned to look at him with a pointed look, drying his hands in a cloth. “Well, why didn’t you say that before?”

“I literally just arrived, love.”

“You’ve had plenty of time to talk about food! Come on, help me put all this inside the cooler. We can’t keep them waiting.”

Zeb rolled his eyes. “The war is over, Alex. The Empire fell. Whatever this is, it can’t be that urgent.”

He gazed at his mate with a look that was half dismay and half adoration. “I truly love your optimism,” he deadpanned. “It’s one of my favourite things about you.”

It wasn’t the first time they’d had that conversation. Endor had been a decisive victory, of course, but Alexsandr wasn’t so sure the Empire was going to give up so easily. The Emperor might be dead, but there were still loyalists everywhere, and they had enough ships and weapons to become a real problem if they ever stopped fighting for power among themselves.

“Really?” Zeb huffed. “I thought it was my dashing good looks.”

“That too,” Alex replied with a smile. He gave Zeb a quick kiss before resuming his task of putting away the groceries.

 

* * *

 

 

Mon Mothma’s blue hologram cast a ghostly light on the faces of those gathered around the main console. Hera, Sabine, and Rex were already there when Zeb and Kallus arrived, talking quietly with the recently appointed Chancellor of the New Republic.

“Apologies for the delay,” Kallus said to the room at large, and then added a brief nod in Mon Mothma’s direction. “Chancellor.”

“It is I who should apologize for calling an unscheduled meeting like this,” the woman answered pleasantly. “I’m glad to see you again, Captain Kallus. And you too, Captain Orrelios.”

“Chancellor,” Zeb answered with a curt nod of his own.

Once past the initial pleasantries, Mon Mothma’s face grew serious as she addressed the whole group. “I wish this could be merely a social call, but I’m afraid it’s anything but. I need your team’s assistance, if you’re willing to lend it.”

“What is it about?” Sabine asked, crossing her arms over her chest in a cautious pose. Her opinion on Mon Mothma hadn’t been exactly stellar since the former leader of the Rebel Alliance had left them to fend for themselves twice: first on Atollon, and then on Lothal too. And, as far as Kallus knew, Zeb shared the feeling. That hadn’t stopped either of them from doing their part whenever the Rebellion needed their help, but the disappointment still hung there, unspoken. 

The Chancellor’s eyes followed Sabine’s movement, acknowledging her defensive stance with the barest hint of regret in her expression. Hera noticed it too, but her only reaction was to give Sabine a meaningful look. The girl instantly relaxed, although grudgingly.

“I know I’m in no position to be asking favors from you,” Mon Mothma said. “But we’ve received intel on the whereabouts of a former Imperial officer who has been eluding capture all this time. This could be our only chance to bring him to justice.”

“I thought you already had a team for this kind of thing,” Zeb intervened.

“I do, but they are currently occupied with another mission on Kashyyyk,” the Chancellor answered. She lowered her eyes for a second. “And anyway, I couldn’t send them even if they were available. You see, this isn’t just any Imperial officer. His name is Barad Vol Dergar, and he used to be the Governor of Chandrila. He was particularly cruel in his determination to fight rebel activity on my home planet, and… Well, if I make his capture an official Republic operation, it would be perceived as me diverting public resources into my personal revenge. That’s something I can’t afford right now, politically speaking.”

“I see,” Hera said. “And where is this man supposed to be holed up?”

“Our intel says he’s hiding in an abandoned Tibanna gas refinery set in an off-world space station in the Anoat sector,” Mon Mothma answered, the hologram briefly changing to a map of the region in the Outer Rim before switching back to her. “Be advised, he’s not alone in there. Some of his men remain loyal to him. We haven’t been able to confirm exactly how many, but judging by how swiftly he moves from planet to planet, it is safe to assume it’s not a large group. Intelligence thinks it’s more likely he’s travelling in a light freighter with a small platoon.”

“That could mean anything from five stormtroopers to twenty,” Rex commented grumpily.

“Well, we’d better carry a lot of firepower then, just in case,” Sabine replied, and there was a hint of excitement in her voice this time.

Mon Mothma’s blue hologram nodded solemnly. “I won’t lie to you, it’s not an easy mission. I wouldn’t ask you if I were not so pressed for time, but Vol Dergar has proved very elusive so far. We have a very narrow window of opportunity to get this done before he moves on to another location.”

Hera took a look around, scanning everyone’s faces before she spoke. “Well, I’m afraid I have to sit this one out. I’ve already been away from Jacen for too long because of the war, I need to be here with him. But if you want to do this, you can take the  _ Ghost _ .”

The other four exchanged glances.

“I’m in,” Sabine said, shrugging. “Got nothing better to do anyway.”

“Me too. I’m getting bored to death with civilian life,” Rex added. “I could use the distraction.”

“So it’s up to us,” Zeb muttered, turning to look at Alex. “Whaddaya think? You wanna do this?”

Kallus arched an eyebrow at him, knowing perfectly well the question was rhetorical. 

Zeb knew better than anyone that Alex wouldn’t even dream of refusing. As long as there was one Imperial threatening to shatter this fragile peace the New Republic had managed to build, there would be no rest for him. And yes, part of that was his guilt speaking, another desperate attempt to repay a debt that could never be paid in full. But mostly it was a genuine desire to protect what he had: his lover, his friends, the life they all had together.

He’d spent most of his life fighting for certain ideals, only to discover that those ideals could be easily twisted into something horribly, overwhelmingly wrong. Now, for the first time, he was fighting for what he loved. It made a huge difference.

And he was ready to fight to his last breath.

“Let’s get to work,” he declared resolutely.


	2. Chapter 2

Kallus stood up from the copilot seat as soon as the Ghost entered hyperspace, leaving Rex to take care of the controls. Heading back to the main room, he pulled up the file Mon Mothma had provided them and began reviewing the information for the upteenth time.

“What’re you doing?” Zeb asked from his seat at the other side of the table. He was methodically cleaning his bo-rifle, a ritual that served both as maintenance for the weapon and as a way of calming his thoughts so he could focus on the mission ahead. Usually Kallus loved to watch him do it, but he had other things on his mind.

“Just going over the plan again,” he replied. “I want to make sure we haven’t missed anything.”

“Alex, come on. We’ve been through this. You know the plan is solid.”

“I also know how things usually turn out for us in this kind of situation.”

“Then you  _ also  _ know we always manage to pull it off in the end.”

Kallus simply gave him a look.

Zeb sighed. “Alex, please. You’re not going off the rails again, are you?” His voice was light, even teasing, but underlined with a worry that didn’t escape Kallus’ notice.

“It’s not like that anymore,” he reassured him. “I’m not being paranoid, I just… like to be thorough.”

The Lasat raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, and Kallus couldn’t help the soft chuckle that escaped his lips.

During the first few weeks after they liberated Lothal, the former agent had been obsessed with the idea that the Empire was coming back to destroy the whole planet in retaliation. It was just the Empire’s way, Kallus knew it better than most. A world defying Palpatine’s rule and getting away with it? They’d never allow it, he was certain of it, if only to keep the news from spreading to other systems and giving people ideas.

Just like Lasan.

Guilt and fear could be a terrible combination, and for Kallus it  translated into a never-ending stream of unsettling nightmares. The dreams usually began with his memories of Lasan, but soon they twisted into a scenario where he was the one unleashing a slaughter upon Lothal. Upon his friends. Upon Zeb.

The lack of sleep  added to his already-flaying nerves and he became more stressed with each passing day. He started spending every minute of his free time up on the communications tower, keeping watch, fully aware that his vigilance wouldn’t accomplish anything their scanners couldn’t do and feeling like a total idiot for it, but unable to stop all the same.

The situation had gone on until the day Zeb decided he’d had enough. He met Kallus at the tower and threatened to carry him on his shoulder all the way down if Kallus didn’t leave by himself.

Kallus had resisted at first, of course. But in the midst of their struggle, they started kissing,   and next thing he knew, they were up against the dusty wall of the tower, frantically pulling each other’s clothes off. The aching need they both had been harboring for so long had finally exploded, their bodies finding a way to say everything they hadn’t dared to put in words. It had been clumsy, and desperate, and ended way too soon. And despite all that, it had been the best sex Kallus ever had in his whole life.

Well, up until that moment, that is. The bar was set considerably higher in the following days.

And yes, that new development had indeed cured him from his obsession. As Kallus would privately think, every step in his relationship with Zeb had involved the Lasat saving him from his own stubborn stupidity somehow. Of course their romance would be no different.

“I dunno, man, I’m not very convinced,” Zeb replied with a mischievous smile. “I wouldn’t want you getting weird in the head again. I’m thinking I might have to do  _ something  _ to keep you from going there.” His suggestive tone left no room for doubt about what that something was.

Kallus smirked in return. “Damn, I have been made. That was my plan all along.”

Zeb winked at him. “Hey, no need to be sneaky. You know I’m always willing to take one for the team.”

“That’s so noble of you,” Alex replied, a full-on grin on his lips now.

“For the love of all that’s holy, please, stop!” came Sabine’s pained voice from her cabin. “I can hear you!”

“We can all hear you!” Rex chimed in from the cockpit in his best annoyed grandpa tone, followed by a long string of indignant beeps and trills from Chopper.

Zeb and Alex looked at each other. They both couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

 

* * *

 

 

The plan was simple enough. Since they assumed they’d be outnumbered, the idea was to set an explosion on one side of the refinery to create a distraction while they snuck in from another point.

“He won’t buy it,” Kallus had objected when they were discussing the plan, all of them gathered around the refinery’s blueprints on a holo.

“Of course he won’t, he’s not stupid,” Rex had answered. “This guy has been on the run all this time, so his first instinct will be to try to escape. Which is why he’ll only send a few soldiers to check on the explosion while he makes for his ship with the rest. We’ll ambush them here,” he added, pointing to the corridor that lead into the hangar.

They all had agreed it was a good plan, or at least the best they could come up with considering their limited forces.

And it even seemed to be working so far, to everyone’s surprise.

The place Rex had picked for the ambush allowed them to barricade themselves behind some crates at the entrance of the corridor, while bottlenecking Vol Dergar’s stormtroopers inside the narrow tunnel. That forced the Imperials to attack in small waves, wich could be easily repelled by just the four of them.

“How long do you think they can keep this up?” Sabine asked, raising her voice over the sound of blaster bolts. A fair amount of fallen stormtroopers littered the floor of the corridor already, but they still kept coming.

“I dunno. Until we end them or they figure out this guy’s not worth it, whatever happens first,” Zeb replied, firing his bo-rifle repeatedly. One more trooper went down.

“Well, the second option doesn’t seem likely,” Kallus chimed in while taking down another soldier with a precise, calculated shot from his blaster.

“I don’t get it. This is a death trap, we’re slaughtering them,” Rex grumbled between shots. “Why aren’t they retreating?”

“I know. It doesn’t make sense,” Kallus replied pensively. “Unless…”

“Unless they’re covering for their boss,” Zeb finished, speaking between gritted teeth. “Is there any other access to the hangar?”

“Not that I know of, but I guess this guy is paranoid enough to have several escape routes planned,” Rex replied.

“Oh, great, so now we have to press the attack before he gets away, right?” Sabine added, peeking from behind the crate to send more stormtroopers to the ground with her twin guns. “Shame. This is kind of cozy.”

“There aren’t many of them left,” Rex observed. “Come on, let’s move!”

Zeb and Kallus advanced first while Sabine and Rex provided cover fire from behind them, the group trying to spread out as much as the corridor allowed so they wouldn’t be such an easy target.

Another two stormtroopers fell, leaving only five  left. There was no sign of Barad Vol Dergar anywhere, and Kallus cursed under his breath as he dodged to avoid a blaster bolt that whistled past his left ear. The crew continued to press forward, making the Imperials back off, slowly but surely, until the five troopers straight-out turned around and ran away.

“Don’t follow them!” Rex warned. “They’ll probably try to lead us away from Vol Dergar, let them go!”

After the chaos of the fight, the sudden silence left a ringing in their ears. The crew took a moment to regroup, breathing hard.

Rex took his comlink off his belt and put it to his mouth. “Chopper, keep watching that Imperial shuttle,” he said, speaking of the only other ship currently occupying the station’s hangar besides the Ghost. “If anyone other than us shows up in the hangar, blast the thing.”

Chopper’s indignant answer translated more or less to  _ ‘Oh, so  _ now  _ you want me to blast it?’ _ To be fair, the droid’s suggestion that they did exactly that as the distraction hadn’t been a completely terrible idea, but the rest of the group had agreed that keeping the Imperial ship whole would guarantee their target would move in the direction they wanted him to. Now that he was on the run, though, the most important thing would be to cut off his escape routes.

“So what now?” Zeb asked, giving voice to what they were all thinking.

“Well, we have to find Vol Dergar, that’s for sure,” Kallus said. “But where do we start?”

“I’ll go to the control center,” Sabine offered, pointing her finger to one of the security cameras mounted on the walls. “Maybe I can get the surveillance feed online and find him.”

“Good idea. Meanwhile, we’ll comb this place room by room. See if we get lucky,” Zeb answered.

She left right away and the other three instinctively assumed their usual formation: Zeb aiming high, Kallus by his side with his blaster pointed low, and Rex taking the rear, back to back with them.

Slowly and carefully, they went down the first corridor, checking inside every door to see if the elusive Imperial was there. They repeated the same process over and over: get inside one room, sweep it thoroughly, get out, and then shoot the control panel after closing the door to stop anyone else from entering once they were gone.

“At this rate, we’ll never finish,” Zeb complained. “Karabast. We’re gonna have to split up.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Alex protested.

“I don’t like it anymore than you do, but he’s right,” said Rex, glancing at the many doors that were still left to check only in the first hallway. “This is taking too long. If each one of us checks a room, we’ll move faster. And we’ll still be close enough in case anyone needs help.”

Kallus exchanged a look with Zeb and the Lasat nodded silently, in a way that was meant to be reassuring. Grudgingly, Alex had to admit they had a point.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” he grunted anyway.

“You always do, love,” Zeb replied with an affectionate smile, briefly caressing Kallus’s cheek with the back of his knuckles. “Come on, let’s find this guy.”

Their search went considerably faster that way, but that didn’t make it more successful. Every cabin, every storage compartment, every vault was definitely void of stubborn Imperials who refused to accept their time in power was over. Kallus frustration was growing by the second.

He heard the door of the chamber to his right close. Apparently Zeb hadn’t found Vol Dergar there either.

“Agh, Karabast!” Zeb’s annoyed voice came through his comlink.

Kallus lifted the device to his mouth, a soft smile on his lips. “No luck again?” he said in a sympathetic tone.

“That’s not it!” Zeb replied urgently. “The door has closed with me inside! I can’t get out!”

Kallus felt his blood run cold all of a sudden. He nearly dropped his comlink and blaster in his haste to get out of the room, almost crashing into Rex as the clone also hurried to Zeb’s aid.

“Zeb?” Kallus called, banging on the firmly closed door behind which his lover was supposed to be.

“I’m here.” The Lasat’s voice came muffled through the durasteel, but he sounded calm. Kallus holstered his gun and tried to activate the control panel for the door, but instead of the light changing from red to green, a virtual keyboard showed up on the touchscreen. 

The uneasy feeling gnawing at Alex’s insides suddenly became a tight fist twisting his guts. “I think it’s code-locked. I can’t get it open.”

“Here, let me try,” said Rex, kneeling before the panel and fumbling with the controls.

Kallus stepped aside, nervously pushing his hair back. He placed a hand on the door like he could somehow make contact with Zeb that way. “Don’t worry, Zeb, we’ll get you out of there in no time.”

“Guys, do you copy?” came Sabine’s voice through their comms just then. “I think Vol Dergar’s locked himself up inside the control center! I’m here, but I can’t get in!”

Kallus and Rex exchanged a meaningful look. It all made sense now: Vol Dergar had been watching them through the cameras. He had waited for the right moment and then closed the door remotely.

But why only on Zeb, instead of containing all three of them in separate rooms?

The answer to that question came soon enough, to Kallus’s despair.

“Uh… guys?” Zeb’s voice had a hint of urgency that made the hair in Alex’s nape stand up. “It’s starting to get real cold in here.”

“What…?” the man said weakly, his breathing becoming fast and laboured.

“Damn it!” Rex grunted. “This must be one of the freezers  where they stored the Tibanna gas containers. That bastard has started it up!”

A horrible sense of dread made Kallus weak in the knees for a second, before his instincts kicked in and he straightened up, a look of determination on his face. He turned to look at Rex, who was still kneeling before the door panel.

“Keep trying, okay?” Alex asked the old captain, walking backwards away from the door. Then he turned around and started running.

“Yeah, sure, but where’re you going?!” Rex yelled at his retreating back.

Kallus shouted back over his shoulder, not even breaking his pace. “I’m going to get that code!”


	3. Chapter 3

Kallus ran like he had a rathtar on his tail, not even stopping to get his comlink to his mouth once more. “Sabine? I need you to tell me the fastest way to get to the control room. And get that damn door open!” he said urgently through ragged breaths.

“I’m on it,” the girl answered. “What’s wrong?”

“Vol Dergar has locked Zeb inside a freezer.”

The communication went momentarily silent, so much that Kallus thought his device was malfunctioning. But then Sabine barked a curse that would have made a spaceport worker proud and Alex heard a thud which could only mean she had kicked the wall in frustration.

“This guy is so dead,” she mumbled.

With Sabine’s instructions to guide him, Kallus made it to the control center in record time. He found the girl still messing with the access panel, but just as he got to her side, she let out a triumphant whoop and the door slid open.

He wasted no time going in, blaster at the ready. A stormtrooper came at him, but he shot him down without hesitation. A second one fell under Sabine’s fire, and then they found themselves face to face with their prey.

Barad Vol Dergar was an aging man who had obviously seen better times. Life on the run didn’t seem to have treated him very kindly. His battered Imperial uniform hung loose on his emaciated frame. His sparse hair, more white than black at this point, looked like he hadn’t washed it in quite a while, and his eyes were bloodshot and underlined by darkened, saggy skin.

His smug grin, however, was just as confident as if he were a Grand Admiral with a whole fleet under his command.

“Now, now,” the man said in a self-satisfied tone, as he slowly raised his hands in surrender. “There’s no need for violence, now, is there? I’m sure we can solve this problem in a civilized manner.”

Kallus had to grit his teeth and tighten his grip on the handle of his blaster to keep from throwing himself to the man and beating him to a pulp right then and there. Zeb was locked away, he might freeze to death if they didn’t get him out soon, and this bastard had the audacity to  _ smile _ ? Like he had dealt a winning hand in a card game or something?

But Sabine didn’t have that much restraint. “Oh, I’ll give you civilized!” she exclaimed, stepping forward and punching Vol Dergar in the face before Kallus had a chance to stop her. The old man recoiled with the force of the hit, almost losing his balance, and it took Kallus a moment to realize the sound he heard coming from him was laughter.

“Well, young lady,” he said. “You’d better reign in that temper of yours if you care about your purple friend at all. It would be a shame if you render me unconscious before I can tell you the code to open that storage unit, right?”

Sabine gave Vol Dergar a look of pure hatred that perfectly mirrored Alex’s feelings about the man, but she didn’t hit him again. She backed off slowly, her blaster firmly trained on him, until she was standing next to Kallus once more.

Somehow, her outburst had helped him get his own rage under control, if only to balance her out. He took a step toward Vol Dergar.

“Sit,” he commanded coldly, signaling a chair nearby with a jerk of his blaster. When Vol Dergar complied, and after making sure Sabine still had him at gunpoint, he took the pair of magna cuffs he was carrying on his belt —it was a capture mission, after all— and secured the prisoner’s hands behind his back.

Kallus moved around to stand in front of Vol Dergar, towering over him with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face. “Start talking.”

To his credit, Vol Dergar had the guts to laugh again despite his clear disadvantage. “Oh, come on,” he said. “You don’t expect me to just spill it out, do you? That code is my life insurance, my dear boy. If you want it, I have some conditions.”

“Of course you do,” Kallus replied with a sardonic half-smirk.

“Don’t worry, they’re perfectly reasonable,” the man continued nonchalantly. “You let me get to my ship, I leave this place with those of my men who are still alive, and once I’m safely in orbit I’ll transmit the code to you. Don’t worry, your friend the Lasat seems pretty strong, and he has all that fur to keep him warm. I’m sure he can survive at least two hours inside that freezer.”

Even tied to a chair and surrounded by hostiles, the greasy old man looked as sure of himself as if he was the one with the blasters. And maybe he had a good reason to think he had the upper hand in this, considering he was literally dangling Zeb’s life in front of their eyes. But if his self-preservation instinct had been even a small fraction of his arrogance, he would’ve known not to play that kind of game with Kallus.

Because every second that ticked by with Zeb still locked inside that freezer flayed another strip from the thick layers of Kallus’s self-control. Hearing this man talk about it like it was nothing, like they were discussing dejarik pieces and not somebody’s life, made him want to beat that smug face bloody.

The only thing that kept him from doing so was his extensive training, thankfully taking over when he needed it most.

His instructors had drilled that concept into him over and over: the worst sin you could commit during an interrogation was to lose your temper. Once you let the prisoner know they’d gotten to you, you had lost control of the situation. Which meant you had lost, plain and simple.

And he would not lose. Not when Zeb’s life was on the line.

Slowly and deliberately, Kallus unfolded his arms and bent over, putting his hands on the armrests of Vol Dergar’s chair to bring his face closer to the man’s. The other one instinctively pulled back a little, just as Alex had been expecting. It was a classic move to make the prisoner realize he was trapped: make him uncomfortable so that he tries to get away but he can’t.

“I’m afraid you’ve grossly misread this situation,” he said with a poisoned sweetness in his voice. “So allow me to correct you. First of all, you are not getting out of here alive.”

A flicker of confusion crossed Vol Dergar’s face for a brief moment, as if he didn’t understand what he had heard. “What?” he asked weakly.

Kallus nodded calmly. “That’s right, you can consider yourself dead already, so you’d better stop entertaining the notion that you can negotiate your way out of here. The only thing we’re discussing is how slow and painful your death is going to be.”

Vol Dergar’s eyes opened hugely, and for the first time since they’d found him, Alex saw a hint of fear reflected in them. Good.

“The second thing I must disabuse you of is the idea that you have a chance to keep the code to yourself,” he continued relentlessly. “You are going to give it to me, one way or another. And depending on  _ when  _ you give it to me, your death will be more or less merciful.”

He lifted a hand before Vol Dergar’s face and started displaying fingers as he talked, counting. “First case: you give me that code in time to get Zeb out unharmed. If you do that, then you get a blaster bolt to the head. Swift and clean.”

A single drop of sweat appeared on the old Imperial’s temple and ran slowly down his cheek.

“Second case,” Alex pressed on, knowing he had the advantage now. “You give me the code and we get Zeb out alive, but hurt. Even slightly. I don’t know, let’s say he has some frostbite. Or he sneezes once. Then the blaster bolt goes to your stomach. I’ve heard those wounds take a while to kill a man, am I right?”

Kallus had to take a breath to steady himself before he could even say the next words, no matter how much training he’d had in his life. And even then, he had to speak through clenched teeth. “Third option: you let him freeze to death in there. If that happens—” He grabbed Vol Dergar’s face to force the man to look him in the eye, his grip so strong he knew it had to be hurting him, but he didn’t care. “If that happens, I’ll leave you tied to this chair, locked up here alone, unable to move, until you rot. If you’re lucky, dehydration will kill you in three days, but by the time it happens your body will be so riddled with cramps and ulcers from the forced immobility that you’ll go mad from the pain.”

The old man paled. The sheen of sweat on his brow was now perfectly visible, and when Kallus let go of his face he had white marks in the places where Alex’s fingers had been pressing. Still, Vol Dergar shook his head, bravely trying to bring a smirk back to his face but not quite getting it. “No, no way,” he said weakly, and then with a little more conviction: “You’re bluffing.”

“Am I?” 

“Of course you are!” Vol Dergar insisted, firmly now. “I know Mon Mothma sent you! Our esteemed, let’s-disarm-our-fleet-as-a-show-of-goodwill-Chancellor! The Republic would never condone this, I’m not stupid!”

Kallus straightened up, looking down on Vol Dergar, and for the first time he allowed some of his fury to show on his face. “Well, you must be a little stupid if you ever thought I’d trust your word and let you walk away with Zeb’s life in your hands,” he replied coldly. “As for the Republic, I don’t give a single shit about what they may or may not condone. This stopped being an official mission the moment you threatened my mate’s life, you scum. This is as personal as it can be.”

There was real fear in Vol Dergar’s expression, all traces of his former confidence completely vanished. “Your... Your mate? The Lasat? But…” Realization suddenly dawned on his face and he gulped down hard, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “Wait… You’re him. The traitor. From Lothal!”

Kallus had to hide his surprise at that, but he hadn’t survived a whole year as a rebel spy inside the Empire without learning how to school his features.

“Oh, you’ve heard of me?” he said. “Well, in that case you also know I was ISB, don’t you?”

He let the words hang in the air, all the unspoken implications of his former title —and reputation— visibly weighing down on Vol Dergar’s bravado. But just in case his threat wasn’t clear enough, he bent down again and pierced the man with a look that left no doubt about how much he meant every word.

“That’s right, old man,” he said, slowly and carefully. “If the prospect of a horrible death isn’t enough incentive to make you speak, I have many other ways to loosen your tongue. Two hours, did you say?” he smirked. “I can make them feel like twenty.”

For a couple of seconds, nothing happened. There was only silence as they both stared at each other, like the frozen frame of a holo. Kallus could feel Sabine’s gaze tearing holes in the back of his neck, and it put an anxious feeling in his stomach, but that was something he would have to put aside for later.

Then, an acrid smell invaded his nostrils and he stepped back, disgusted, as he realized Vol Dergar had wet himself in sheer terror.

“It’s… it’s 74967,” the Imperial breathed, his voice sounding defeated. “The code is 74967.”

Kallus had his comlink to his mouth even before Vol Dergar had finished speaking, already turning around to get to the door. “Rex! The code is 74967! I repeat, 74967.”

He ran back all the way, every other thought gone from his mind except Zeb. Vol Dergar’s fate, Sabine’s judgement, none of that mattered anymore. Only Zeb.

As he turned the last corner, he saw Rex just ahead of him, holding Zeb up with the Lasat’s arm over his shoulders. He looked weak but he was alive, and the relief that flooded Kallus’ entire body was so intense his knees nearly buckled under him. He started running again, sprinting the last few meters until he crashed into Zeb so hard he almost knocked them both to the ground.

“It’s okay,” Zeb whispered in his ear, his voice a little shaky. “I’m fine, babe. I’m fine.”

But he wasn’t. He was cold, so cold in Alex’s arms. It sent a new wave of fear down Kallus’ gut and he held onto his lover desperately, realizing how close he had been to losing him for good. He started to rub his hands up and down Zeb’s arms and back, trying to get some warmth back into his limbs.

He felt a soft thud and he opened his eyes to find out that Sabine had added herself to the hug, also doing her best to rub Zeb’s coldness away. Kallus hadn’t even realized she had followed him, but she must have been running just behind him all the time. Then Rex, who had discreetly taken a step back to give Zeb and Kallus some space, decided that he might as well contribute too.

Kallus thought that they were probably quite a sight to see: three human blankets enveloping a hulking Lasat, desperately clinging to him like they were afraid they’d lose him if they let go.

Which, in essence, was exactly how Kallus was feeling.

“Guys, seriously,” Zeb grunted. “I love you all, but there’s no need for this.”

“The hell there’s not,” Sabine replied, her voice muffled against the back of Zeb’s shoulder. “You’re freezing.”

The Lasat chuckled softly, and it was the most wonderful sound Kallus had ever heard. The man pulled back a little to meet his lover’s gaze and what he found in Zeb’s eyes was nothing but loving, calm reassurance.

“I’m okay,” he whispered, and even if he was talking to the three of them, the words felt like they were meant for Kallus alone. “I’ve had worse. Remember Bahryn? Now  _ that _ was cold, and for a whole night, even.”

_ But it was worth it _ , his smile seemed to say.

“Oh, come on, don’t give me that,” Alex retorted. “Bahryn’s temperature was nothing compared to a Tibanna gas freezer.” But warmth was returning to Zeb’s skin and his voice wasn’t wavering anymore, so the tight knot in Kallus’ stomach had began to loosen up at last.

“Yeah, whatever,” said Zeb, gently disentangling himself from the group hug and picking his bo-rifle from the floor. “I dunno about y’all, but I’m done with this place. Let’s go home.”


	4. Chapter 4

“You need to get out of those damp clothes right now,” Kallus said as soon as they laid a foot on the Ghost again, guiding Zeb toward the refresher with a hand on the small of his back. Sabine and Rex took Vol Dergar to the cargo hold to secure him, and Alex hoped he’d never have to see his ugly face again.

“You’ll do anything to get me naked, won’t ya?” Zeb joked, his voice tired but his spirit, apparently, as unbreakable as ever. 

“Come on, go get a warm shower, I’ll make you a cup of tea,” Kallus sighed with a half smile, stubbornly avoiding Zeb’s eyes. His nerves hadn’t recovered yet from the whole ordeal, and he feared if he allowed even a single glance, Zeb would read it all on his face as easily as he always did. And, knowing him, he would surely start to fuss over Alex instead of letting himself be pampered as he should. 

But, of course, Zeb had other plans.

The Lasat stopped him mid-step, pulling him into his arms. “Alex, I’m fine,” he whispered tenderly, cradling the human’s face in one of his giant hands. “I’m actually more worried about you, if I’m honest. You look like you’ve been through hell.”

Kallus held Zeb’s gaze for a second, before the onslaught of emotion became too strong to bear and he had to look down again. He covered Zeb’s hand with his own. “I’m not the one who’s become familiar with the inside of a damn refrigerator, so don’t even think about it,” he warned, but the mere act of saying those words aloud brought back the realization of how close it had been and he felt weak again. He had to let his forehead rest against Zeb’s chest for a moment, feeling him and taking in his scent.

“Just… humor me, will you?” he pleaded, raising his head to look into Zeb’s eyes again. “I need to make sure you’re okay.”

Zeb sighed. “Fine, if it makes you happy. But just so you know, I could be more easily persuaded to take that shower if you were to join me.”

Alex let out a surprised chuckle, more a release of tension than an expression of real joy. He was still too shaken to even  _ think  _ about sex, and he doubted very much that he was the only one. He knew Zeb well enough to tell when he was bluffing.

“Yeah, like there’s a chance we both could fit inside that thing,” Alex replied with a hint of sarcasm, and it wasn’t only an excuse. The narrow shower pod could barely contain Zeb by himself, the idea of trying to squeeze Kallus in too was ludicrous. Not to mention how embarrassing it would be to have to be rescued by the others when they inevitably got stuck.

Stars, Sabine would never let them hear the end of it.

“Yeah, I know,” Zeb conceded with and exaggerated air of disappointment. “Damn these tiny ship facilities.”

The smile in Kallus’ lips was genuine this time, and he looked up at Zeb with adoration. “We’ll have to take a raincheck, I’m afraid.”

“You betcha.”

Zeb leaned in to kiss Alex, slow and tender. His lips still felt slightly cold, but soft and firm and wonderfully alive, like the steady heartbeat beneath the hand Kallus had laid on the Lasat’s chest. The tension in Alex’s body finally started to ease a little, leaving him worn out but feeling like that kiss had added years to his lifespan.

They went on their way, stopping by their bunk to leave their weapons and get a fresh set of clothes for Zeb.

“Go easy on the temperature at first, at least until your blood is circulating properly again,” Kallus advised, remembering his own rookie mistake after Bahryn. “It could hurt like a million needles if you start with the water too hot.”

“I know, mom,” Zeb answered without malice, before disappearing down the hall in the direction of the refresher.

Once he was alone, Kallus made his way back to the common room to prepare Zeb that cup of tea, but it proved to be a more difficult task than he anticipated. The mug kept slipping from his shaking hands and he almost spilled all the teabags when he burst the can open. A strange uneasiness suddenly started to crawl over him, a clenching feeling in his gut taking the empty space left by the sheer terror he’d experienced earlier.

It was clear he needed to take a moment to calm down, so he sat at the dejarik table and took a deep, steadying breath.

“It’s all right,” he whispered to himself, like the words would be more effective if he heard them with his ears and not only inside his head. “Zeb’s all right. It’s over.”

_ But that’s not the only thing eating at you, is it? _

And that was it, really. Not that the love of his life having nearly died wasn’t enough to shake him to the core, but he hadn’t only been close to losing Zeb. He had also been very, very close to losing himself.

His mind kept coming back to his interaction with Vol Dergar, over and over again. The things he’d said, and the things he would have been willing to do if it had come to that. And with every time the scene replayed in his memory, the tightness in his chest felt a little bit harder, until he thought he was about to vomit.

Of course, he thought. He should have recognized the feeling a lot sooner, considering how familiar he was with it at that point.

It was shame.  

“I had forgotten how scary you could be,” Sabine’s soft voice startled him so badly he nearly jumped from his seat. He turned around to find her standing at the entrance of the main hall, a hand on her hip and the other arm behind her back, a shoulder leaning on the threshold.

“Sometimes I wish I could forget it too,” he replied somberly.

The girl frowned, stepping into the room. “Hey, I meant that as a compliment. What‘s the matter?”

She sat in front of him, hands on her lap, giving him an expectant look. 

Kallus almost opened his mouth to say he didn’t want to talk about it, but then he realized it wasn’t true. He couldn’t keep that ugliness to himself, it would have felt dishonest. And maybe Sabine wasn’t the right person to hear him, but on the other hand… She had been there, she’d witnessed everything. She already knew.

So perhaps she was just exactly the right person to talk to. 

“I thought…” he started hesitantly. “When I escaped the Empire, I thought I had left all that behind. But it’s who I am. I guess there’s no defecting from that.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, looking genuinely confused. “Defecting from what?”

The man stared at her in disbelief. “Me. Vol Dergar. Do I really have to spell it out? You were there, you saw what happened.”

“Yeah, I did,” she said nonchalantly. “All you did was scare the shit out of that guy, that’s all.”

“I would have done much worse,” Alex replied, his voice so full of self-loathing it was almost unrecognizable to his own ears.

“Well, if you ask me, that asshole totally deserved it.”

He gazed at her in surprise and was met by a fierce look in her eyes, the look of someone who was completely sure she knew where the line between good and evil stood, and what belonged on either side. Kallus had been like that, too, when he was her age.

He wasn’t so sure of anything anymore.

“That’s not the point, Sabine,” he said softly.

“Then what is it?”

Alex tried to put it into words, letting out a frustrated sigh when it turned out he couldn’t seem to decide where to begin. He resisted the urge to pull his own hair while she waited patiently, giving him time to gather his thoughts.

“You… you know what I did on Lasan, don’t you?” he finally said, and Sabine nodded silently. “Have you ever wondered how I could do something so horrible without any remorse?”

The girl shrugged. “Didn’t need any explanation, man. We just assumed you were evil.”

He let out a dry chuckle at her blunt honesty. “Yeah, maybe that’s true. But at the moment, I was convinced I was doing the right thing. Part of if was just my faith in the Empire, but there was something else too.”

Slowly and painfully, he told Sabine the same story he had told Zeb all those years ago, back on a frozen moon on the night that changed his life forever. Onderon. The Lasat mercenary. He confessed how he’d let the fear from that traumatic experience fester into irrational hate for a whole species, and how many innocents had suffered the consequences.

He thought he’d learned from that terrible mistake.

“Ever since I decided to betray the Empire, I’ve been desperately trying to become a better person,” he continued. “I thought I’d done it. But look at me now. All it took was someone threatening Zeb and I was taken over by fear and hate again.”

He gave her a pleading look, silently begging her to understand. “I  _ wanted  _ to hurt that man, Sabine. I’ve never tortured a single soul in my entire life but so help me, I would’ve been happy to do it this time.”

Sabine arched an elegant eyebrow, matching it with the corresponding smirk of disbelief. “You’ve  _ never  _ tortured anyone? Come on, you don’t expect me to buy that, do you? Dude, you were  _ ISB _ ,” she huffed dismissively.

“I know the reputation we had, and yes, it was totally deserved in most cases. But I’m telling you the truth,” he insisted, looking intently into her eyes. “Oh, I was trained for it, that’s for sure. But not everybody is fit to be a torturer, you see, no matter how much they study. Our instructor used to say,  _ ‘Torture is like art. Knowing the technique is not enough, you have to feel it. You need to enjoy it if you want it to be effective. If you don’t have it in you, then you’d better stick with the mind probes.’  _ And I definitely didn’t have it in me.”

“Wow,” she murmured, realization dawning on her face. “I never would have thought about it like that, but I’m an artist, and I... sort of get it? It makes sense in a completely disgusting, horrific way. Ugh, and now I feel dirty.”

“I know the feeling,” he agreed with a deep, weary sigh, remembering some of his former colleagues. Just the fact that he had shared a uniform and a designation with them made him want to throw up. “But I promise you, I never used anything harsher than a mind probe in my interrogations.”

“Well, drugging someone with a mind probe is still a pretty nasty thing to do,” she argued.

“Maybe, but mostly painless. I mean, the injection itself hurts a little, but that’s it.”

Sabine seemed to consider this. “I have to admit you have a point there.”

There was a small stretch of silence during which they both mulled over the conversation. Kallus slowly lowered his gaze to his still-trembling hands, a sense of defeat weighing him down.

“You love him very much, don’t you?” Sabine said after a little while, making him look up in surprise.

It hadn’t really been question. She was watching him with a thoughtful expression on her face, her arms crossed over her chest, and suddenly the former Imperial felt more naked than he’d ever been in his whole life.

And really, what else could he do but be honest?

“More than I thought I was capable of,” he answered softly. “And I want to be the kind of man he deserves, Sabine, but I’m not. He is kind, and sweet, and always sees the best in everybody, and I’m… I have all this evil inside me. I can’t shake it off no matter how hard I try, because it’s just who I am and—”

“Bullshit,” Sabine cut him off.

The man stared at her, stunned into silence by the vehemence in her voice. She leaned forward, staring at him intently. “You saved his life today,” she said. “I don’t care how deep you had to dig to find what you needed to get it done. You kept him alive, and that’s all that matters.”

Sabine made a small pause and, for just a moment, her eyes showed a vulnerability she’d never displayed before. A glimpse of the terror she, also, had felt while Zeb was in danger. “Zeb is my family, Kallus. He’s more of a brother to me than my real brother. And if he had… If something—”

She couldn’t finish the phrase, lowering her gaze and pressing her lips together like she was fighting back tears. Then she shook her head and looked up again.

“I just… I’m glad he has you to take care of him,” she said at last, quietly.

While the man kept staring at her in astonishment, she got up from her seat with a graceful motion and Kallus realized there was something in her hand, some kind of bundle she had been hiding in her lap all this time.

“Here,” she said, letting the object drop onto the table with a thud. “I’ve fixed that boring thing for you. It desperately needed a little bit of color.”

Kallus looked down to find his gun holster on the table, except it looked quite different. It was purple now, with stripes of a darker shade in a pattern that was clearly meant to resemble Zeb’s fur. The white Fulcrum symbol was painted on one side, while on the other there was the sign of Phoenix Squadron in its familiar vibrant orange. 

Alex took it in his hands and turned it around a couple times. A faint scent of paint filled his nostrils and for a moment he was afraid it was still too fresh and he’d smear the colors with his fingers, but when he checked his hands he found no stain on them. The paint was dry enough, although it was obvious it had just been applied.

Something warm and tight settled on his chest, and for a fraction of a second he found himself unable to breathe.

“This is beautiful,” he whispered in a reverent tone, when he finally found his voice. “Thank you.”

But when he looked up, the girl had already left. 

 

* * *

 

 

Zeb was in their cabin when Alex got there with a steaming mug of tea in each hand. The Lasat was laying on the bed, reading from a datapad that he put aside as soon as he saw his mate coming through the door. He sat up and scooted over to leave Kallus some room next to him. 

“Feeling better?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that question?” Alex replied as he handed over one of the mugs.

Zeb took a careful sip from his before he answered. “Babe, please, cut the crap. I know you too well.”

Kallus sighed with an air of defeat. “Okay, I yield. You’re right, it was scary.” He huffed at the sheer absurdity of having used such a tame word to describe it. Scary didn’t even begin to cover it. “Well, more like terrifying. I… went to some very dark places while you were trapped in that freezer.”

“Do I want to know the details?”

Kallus gave him a small smile. “It’s nothing worse than what you already know about me, but it’s not something I’m proud of, either,” he answered. “And anyway, I think I have it more or less sorted out now.”

The Lasat arched an eyebrow. “Really? How so?”

Kallus lowered his gaze for a moment, gathering his thoughts in search of a way to eloquently put in words what his mind hadn’t stopped turning around for the last half an hour.

“I have accepted the fact that I have darkness inside me,” he began slowly. “Maybe we all do, maybe not, but that’s not the point. What really matters is that I also have the power to keep that darkness at bay. I am defined by my choices, not by my instincts.”

_ And I will always choose to do whatever it takes to protect you,  _ he added mentally.

Zeb smiled, looking at him with something very much like pride. “Well, that’s pretty deep,” he said. “May I ask how you came by that particular bit of wisdom?”

Alex returned the smile like he couldn’t help himself. “I had a very interesting conversation with Sabine. She gave me this,” he added, showing Zeb his newly decorated holster.

The Lasat left his mug on the bedside table and took the object in his hands, turning it this way and that to check every detail. He let out an appreciative whistle. “Nice. She did this for you?”

“Yes, she did.”

Zeb looked up into his eyes with a wide grin on his face. “You know this means you’re officially family now, right?”

“I thought as much,” Kallus mused.

“No, seriously, she doesn’t do this for just anybody. Man, this is some of her finest work.”

“And I appreciate it, believe me,” Alex insisted, hoping she had heard his thanks. He would say it again in the morning, just in case. “It was different tonight, you know? I don’t know how to explain it. Your crew has always been kind to me, actually kinder than I expected or deserved, but somehow it felt like they did it more for your sake than mine. But this time… I think this time it really was for me.”

Zeb put the holster on the nightstand, next to his forgotten mug of tea. Then he did the same with Kallus’ mug, too, so that he could reach an arm around Alex’s shoulders. “Of course it was,” he stated with absolute certainty, kissing the top of Kallus’ head for reassurance. “I told you they’d come around once they got to know you better.”

They laid down gently, snuggling together on the narrow bed, but sleep didn’t come  soon for either of them. Not that Alex minded, in fact. Being close to Zeb was the only thing he wanted to do at the moment, it would be a shame to miss it by falling asleep.

Even after several years together, he was still fascinated by the fact that he could do this. That he could touch, and hug, and caress, and his affection was not only welcome, but encouraged and returned. For most of Kallus’ adult life, physical contact outside of sex had been completely non-existent, to the point where he’d forgotten how reassuring it could be.

But Zeb had reminded him, and now he couldn’t get enough of it.

His head followed the rise and fall of Zeb’s chest as the Lasat took a deep breath, and then he felt the caress of warm breath on his hair as he sighed. “I’m tired.”

“Stars, me too,” Alex answered drowsily. “But this is nice.” 

“No, I don’t mean right now,” Zeb clarified. “I mean in general. I’m tired of the war, tired of fighting.”

Alex raised his head to look at Zeb, a little surprised. He waited for his lover to continue.

“I’ve been doing it my whole life,” the Lasat added. “And I used to think it was what I was born to do, but I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t know, man, punching bucketheads is fun and all, but it gets old after a while. I want other things.”

“Like what?” Kallus prompted him softly.

“I want what we have, you and I,” Zeb replied. “It’s too precious for me, I can’t risk it again like today. I dunno how many years we’ll get, but I’m not gonna waste them fighting one war after another. I thought we’d get some peace once we kicked the Empire’s ass, but those buggers just refuse to give up, man, and it’s been way too long. Maybe it’s time to let other people take care of them. Karabast, we have an actual government now. They can handle it, right?”  

Kallus considered his words carefully. As far as he was concerned, he would never feel he’d done enough to earn his retirement, but there was no way he would ever condemn Zeb to a life of doing something he didn’t want to do, just because of his own guilt. He’d simply have to find another way to appease his conscience.

“What do you want to do, then?” he asked in the end.

Zeb’s hand caressed his arm absentmindedly. “I’ve been thinking about it for some time. There’s a place I want you to see. A very special place. I think maybe, if you like it, we could consider spending some time there. Or even stay for good.” He spoke shyly, almost hesitantly, although Kallus couldn’t even fathom for what reason. Everything he was saying sounded like a perfect dream. “Who knows? Perhaps we could even think about starting our own family. Would you… would you like that? Us adopting a bunch of kids and maybe a loth-cat?”

Kallus smiled so wide he felt his cheeks tighten. “I thought you’d said you wanted peace,” he joked.

Zeb chuckled helplessly. “Come on, I’m serious.”

But there was a slight trace of anxiety in his gaze, one that Kallus made sure to wipe out immediately. “Then in all seriousness, I’ll say that I cannot imagine a happier future,” he answered, watching how Zeb’s eyes lit up with his words.

They shared a slow, tender kiss, hope bubbling inside Alex’s chest like a tiny spring. When they pulled apart, the horror of the previous hours seemed very far away, almost like it belonged to a different life.

“So, tell me,” Kallus said, unable to stop smiling. “Where is this place, and what makes it so special?”

“I, uh…,” Zeb mumbled, nervously scratching his head. “I kinda wanted that to be a surprise. Would you mind?”

Alex met his sheepish gaze, arching an eyebrow in return. “Are you asking me if I would blindly follow you through the galaxy to a mysterious place I know nothing about?”

Zeb lowered his eyes, looking insecure again. “Sort of, yes.”

But Alex put a finger under the Lasat’s chin, gently lifting his face toward him. “Of course I would,” he answered unwaveringly. “I’d follow you to the end of the Universe, my love.”

He watched in fascination as a myriad of emotions crossed Zeb’s face in the span of a second, from relief to pure joy to a raw, unbridled hunger that made Alex shiver from head to toe.

Sleep took a long while to come for either of them.

  
  


THE END


End file.
